Chapter XXXV.—Precepts from the Prophetic Books.

The divine law, then, not only forbids the
worshipping of idols, but also of the heavenly bodies, the sun, the
moon, or the other stars; yea, not heaven, nor earth, nor the sea, nor
fountains, nor rivers, must be worshipped, but we must serve in holiness
of heart and sincerity of purpose only the living and true God, who also
is Maker of the universe. Wherefore saith the holy law: “Thou shalt
not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false
witness; thou shalt not desire thy neighbour’s wife.” So also
the prophets. Solomon indeed teaches us that we must not sin with so much
as a turn of the eye,619619
Literally, “a nod.” saying, “Let thine eyes
look right on, and let thy eyelids look straight before thee.”620620Prov. iv. 25.
And Moses, who himself also was a prophet, says, concerning the sole
government of God: “Your God is He who establishes the heaven,
and forms the earth, whose hands have brought forth all the host of
heaven; and He has not set these things before you that you should go
after them.”621621
Cf. Deut. iv. 19. And Isaiah himself also says: “Thus
saith the Lord God who
established the heavens, and founded the earth and all that is therein,
and giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk
therein. This is the Lord
your God.”622622Isa. xlii. 5. And again, through him He says: “I
have made the earth, and man upon it. I by my hand have established
the heavens.”623623Isa. xlv. 12. And in another chapter, “This is your
God, who created the ends of the earth; He hungereth not, neither is
weary, and there is no searching of His understanding.”624624Isa. xl. 28.
So, too, Jeremiah says: “Who hath made the earth by His power,
and established the world by His wisdom, and by His discretion hath
stretched out the heavens, and a mass of water in the heavens, and He
caused the clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth; He made lightnings
with rain, and brought forth winds out of His treasures.”625625Jer. x. 12, 13.
One can see how consistently and harmoniously all the prophets spoke,
having given utterance through one and the same spirit concerning
the unity of God, and the creation of the world, and the formation of
man. Moreover, they were in sore travail, bewailing the godless race
of men, and they reproached those, who seemed to be wise, for their
error and hardness of heart. Jeremiah, indeed, said: “Every man
is brutishly gone astray from the knowledge of Him; every founder is
confounded by his graven images; in vain the silversmith makes his molten
images; there is no breath in them: in the day of their visitation they
shall perish.”626626Jer. li. 17, 18. The same, too, says David: “They
are corrupt, they have done abominable works; there is none that doeth
good, no, not one; they have all gone aside, they have together become
profitless.”627627Ps. xiv. 1, 3. So also Habakkuk: “What profiteth
the graven image that he has graven it a lying image? Woe to him
that saith to the stone, Awake; and to the wood, Arise.”628628Hab. ii. 18.
Likewise spoke the other prophets of the truth. And why should I recount
the multitude of prophets, who are numerous, and said ten thousand things
consistently and harmoniously? For those who desire it, can, by reading
what they uttered, accurately understand the truth, and no longer be
carried away by opinion and profitless labour. These, then, whom we have
already mentioned, were prophets among the Hebrews,—illiterate,
and shepherds, and uneducated.